Sorry this blog post is so delayed. It was a combination of forgetting, then trying to figure out what to write about, then most of my entry being deleted (I thought), then being too busy getting ready for our trip to S Dakota...but after getting on here again I found that my entry was not deleted...it just appeared that way. Yea! So hopefully I'll actually get this finished up now.
I've been reading The Lord of the Rings, and every so often Tolkien inserts some wise truth into the dialogue that jumps out at me, so I thought I'd share one of those.
I'm not sure if any of you are fans of The Lord of the Rings or have seen the movies/read the book, but this part is towards the beginning when Gandalf the Wizard is explaining to Frodo the Hobbit that Sauron - the Dark Lord - has risen to power again and is searching for the One Ring of Power - the very ring that Frodo has in his possession. As Gandalf is explaining this to him, Frodo says, "I wish it need not have happened in my time." Gandalf replies, "So do I, and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."
This reminded me of the story of Esther in the Old Testament. I won't recount the whole story here (but it's a great one, so you should go read it if you haven't in a while), but basically Esther (who is a queen of Persia but also secretly a Jew) has a chance to save her people from destruction if she will reveal who she really is to the king and ask for mercy on the Jews. She would be risking her life to do this, though. Her cousin, Mordecai, says to her, "Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:12-14)
Both passages are saying that we don't have a choice in when and where we are born and what world events will be happening during our lifetime. Nobody wishes to live in a time or place when great hardship or evil will greatly affect his/her life. But that is not for any of us to decide. Why was I born at this time and place in history? Why am I currently living a pretty good life here in America while my brothers and sisters in Christ are being tortured and murdered in other parts of the world? And will I (or my kids) face greater persecution in the near future in our own country? I do fear for what my kids may have to face. I don't know what God will ask of me in the future (even tomorrow); it may be something that will be hard to do or that I will fear, like Frodo and Esther both feared the tasks they were asked to do. But I hope I will trust God enough that He put me in this place and time for His purpose and will equip me to do whatever it is He wants, and that I will do it, even if I am afraid.
Both passages are saying that we don't have a choice in when and where we are born and what world events will be happening during our lifetime. Nobody wishes to live in a time or place when great hardship or evil will greatly affect his/her life. But that is not for any of us to decide. Why was I born at this time and place in history? Why am I currently living a pretty good life here in America while my brothers and sisters in Christ are being tortured and murdered in other parts of the world? And will I (or my kids) face greater persecution in the near future in our own country? I do fear for what my kids may have to face. I don't know what God will ask of me in the future (even tomorrow); it may be something that will be hard to do or that I will fear, like Frodo and Esther both feared the tasks they were asked to do. But I hope I will trust God enough that He put me in this place and time for His purpose and will equip me to do whatever it is He wants, and that I will do it, even if I am afraid.
Excellent thoughts, Kylie.
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